British wrestling: Perfect As It Is

Added 07/11/2014 by Matthew Singleton

In the last decade or so British wrestling has undergone what can only be described as a great revival. We have always had great wrestlers being born on our small island, but for a long time we did not have the foundations to properly showcase this talent. Now, however, Britain is home to some of the best Indy wrestling on the planet, with numerous promotions putting on world class shows all year round. A fan can travel to any corner of Britain and witness excellent professional wrestling. That is such an amazing feat. It seems that not since the days of World of Sport has British wrestling enjoyed such a spike in popularity. As fans we love the scene and there is nothing in the world that compares to, or can improve on, what we get to see on weekends throughout Britain.

For years Americans seem to have pitied us but as a fan of British wrestling today there’s a part of me that pities those across the Atlantic. They have some great talent there is no doubt about it, in fact quality permeates through a large number of the independent companies, however, they do not get to witness the pure brilliance of some of the British wrestlers. That is because although many international stars come to the shores of Britain to wrestle our finest, it appears few of our gems actually make the trip across the Atlantic to try their hand at the American Indy scene. They therefore miss out on some of the best talent on the planet. Although Zach Sabre Jr, perhaps the greatest of the current crop of British technical wrestlers, recently made his debut in PWG in America, the fact remains it was over a decade since his debut on this side of the Atlantic. Also, guys like Mark Andrews, Rampage Brown, Noam Dar, and many more spend their time primarily in our great country. We therefore, as fans, get the opportunity to see the best wrestlers from across the world wrestle in our back garden. This attracts those fans who enjoy the international talent as well as those British wrestling fans and so only serves to increase the popularity of the product.

This top talent now has a vast range of promotions who utilise their talents to perfection. As fans we get the opportunity to witness all different types of wrestling in Britain. There will always be comedy in wrestling, and equally the hardcore aspect will always appeal to some fans, and the brilliant thing about current British wrestling is that it caters for all. The explosion of new promotions brings with it an arrival of new ideas and new takes on the business. If anything many of these ideas are still in their infancy, with companies such as Progress Wrestling only being formed in 2012 and so we have so much more to look forward to in the next decade. The uniqueness of the scene will only continue to grow as time goes on and so we can look forward to even more exciting promotions and ideas in the future.

People are always looking for the next step, the next way to become bigger and better. But the British Independent wrestling scene is already fantastic as it is. We get the best talent and the best promotions and we can see them all in a town nearby for a low price. The big American promotions have television, but many of us, if we cannot make the show will settle for DVD or the on demand service. Ring of Honor has announced new action figures, but we’ll take buying t-shirts at the shows. British Independent wrestling has what it has, and that is the some of the best wrestling on the planet, and as fans, we don’t need any more. That is more than enough for us.